UN official: US must return control of sacred lands to Native Americans

[jimmy olsen]

The UN can go to hell.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/05/11551618-un-official-us-must-return-control-of-sacred-lands-to-native-americans?lite

UN official: US must return control of sacred lands to Native Americans

Ed Menard, Park Ranger

A United Nations official says sacred lands -- like the Black Hills of Dakota, which includes Mount Rushmore -- should be returned to Native American control.
By Reuters

The United States must do more to heal the wounds of indigenous peoples caused by more than a century of oppression, including restoring control over lands Native Americans consider to be sacred, according to a U.N. human rights investigator.

James Anaya, the U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, just completed a 12-day visit to the United States where he met with representatives of indigenous peoples in the District of Columbia, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Washington State, South Dakota, and Oklahoma. He also met with U.S. government officials. 
"I have heard stories that make evident the profound hurt that indigenous peoples continue to feel because of the history of oppression they have faced," Anaya said in a statement issued by the U.N. human rights office in Geneva Friday.

That oppression, he said, has included the seizure of lands and resources, the removal of children from their families and communities, the loss of languages, violation of treaties, and brutality, all grounded in racial discrimination.

Anaya welcomed the U.S. decision to endorse the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2010 and other steps the government has taken, but said more was needed.

'History of oppression'
His findings will be included in a final report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council. While not binding, the recommendations carry moral weight that can influence governments.

"It is clear that this history does not just blemish the past, but translates into present day disadvantage for indigenous peoples in the country," Anaya said.

"There have still not been adequate measures of reconciliation to overcome the persistent legacies of the history of oppression, and that there is still much healing that needs to be done," he said.

Game hunt for sacred white buffaloes riles Native groups

In Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, where some Native Americans depend on hunting and fishing, Anaya said tribes face "ever-greater threats ... due to a growing surge of competing interests, and in some cases incompatible extractive activities, over these lands and resources."

"In Alaska, indigenous peoples complain about a complex and overly restrictive state regulatory apparatus that impedes their access to subsistence resources (fish and wildlife)," he said.

Native American tribe gets permit to kill bald eagles

Mining for natural resources in parts of the country has also caused serious problems for indigenous peoples.

"Past uncontrolled and irresponsible extractive activities, including uranium mining in the Southwest, have resulted in the contamination of indigenous peoples' water sources and other resources, and in numerous documented negative health effects among Native Americans," he said.

Mount Rushmore
He said indigenous peoples feel they have too little control over geographic regions considered sacred to them, like the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona and the Black Hills in South Dakota. Anaya suggested such lands should be returned to Native peoples.

"Securing the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands is of central importance to indigenous peoples' socioeconomic development, self-determination, and cultural integrity," Anaya said.

"Continued efforts to resolve, clarify, and strengthen the protection of indigenous lands, resources, and sacred sites should be made," he added.

How genocide wiped out a Native American population

Mount Rushmore, a popular tourist attraction, is located in the Black Hills, which the Sioux tribe consider to be sacred and have territorial claims to based on an 1868 treaty. Shortly after that treaty was signed, gold was discovered in the region. U.S. Congress eventually passed a law taking over the land.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that the seizure of the land was illegal and ordered the government to pay compensation. But the Sioux rejected the money and has continued to demand the return of the now public lands.

Anaya said he will make specific recommendations on these and other issues in a full report later this year.

[CountDeMoney]

By all means, please deploy Bangladeshi peacekeepers to enforce it.

[The Brain]

Are these the same people who are jobless drunks?

[Ed Anger]

I await Mart's report on who owns it and the impact on seasonal fruit crops.

[11B4V]

We took it fair and square. Fuck off UN

[Kleves]

Are these the same people who are jobless drunks?

The people at the UN Human Rights Office? Yes.

[Viking]

When applying for permits to drill in australia one of the steps in the procedure is to ensure that the land being drilled on is not sacred to the local aboriginals. Unfortunately the only way to find that out is to point to the map and ask if that bit of land is sacred. Invariably the answer is yes, that land is sacred but if you make a contribution to <insert tribal chief's favorite "charity" here> then we can com to an arrangement.

Eventually the practice was changed and rather than applying on a well by well basis the companies applied in bulk, proposing 20 or even 40 possible well sites in advance in a region and asking the local aborigies where in that area their sacred lands were, naturally the well sites overlapped pretty precisely with the aboriginal sacred lands. The farse of this was pretty much exposed when SANTOS (South Australia and Northern Territories Oil Services) applied for drilling permits in a region and found the application blocked by the local abos who claimed the sites coincidently overlapped with all their local sites in the region, SANTOS re-applied for the permit, only this time using the locations where they originally intended to drill rather than the dummy sites they initially proposed.

The law still applies but the mining and oil and gas companies operating on land in australia have delivered the local aboriginies one big fuck you with the support of the australian tax payers.

If this is actually implemented this will have none of the intended consequences and only create corruption within indian tribes.

[The Brain]

The problem with savages is that they aren't very likable.

[DGuller]

The problem with savages is that they aren't very likable.

I like you.

[The Brain]

The problem with savages is that they aren't very likable.

I like you.

No homo.

[Syt]

I don't see why you guys get so worked up, it's not set instone.

I mean the headline even stresses that it's UNofficial.

[Oexmelin]

We took it fair and square.

[Admiral Yi]

Whichever presidential candidate were to agree to the UN's requests would surely enjoy a surge in the polls.

[Valmy]

I mean it is not like the Native Americans are forbidden to travel and do whatever sacred stuff they want at those places.  Why do they need political control?

[Tonitrus]

I have a lot of sympathy for the plight of our Native American communities, but alas, there is not a lot to be done about it.

I think our outdated reservation system could stand to be reformed...but even that is fraught with a lot of problems.  For example, the Navajo nation makes up a good chunk of Arizona and New Mexico (and some of Utah/Colorado), and could easily be (in size) its own state.  But that also would require a significant abrogation of the Constitution (I am sure none of those states would give up the land), and would also instantly become the least populous state, and likely the poorest.  They have access to mineral resources, sure, but not the kind that would make them wealthy.  The problem with most Native lands, from the Southwest to Alaska, is they are places that no one (besides them) wants to live, and are basically economically nonviable to support a modern lifestyle that people would demand.  They might do fine if they still wore furs and ran dogsleds, but throw in our modern crap (and probably the greatest scourge alcohol), then things go to pot.  Maybe it's a curse of our modern society...I wonder if it is just boredom...in no longer having to spend one's entire day trying to get food to survive, that spawns all the problems in, not just Native communities, but in other poor areas of well (urban ghettos, trailer parks).

And my home state, Washington, is littered with dozens of tiny reservations, most of which host a casino as the chief source of sustenance (besides seasonally selling fireworks, illegal everywhere else)...and their population is so tiny, it's amazing to think they could ever survive as a distinct society.

Giving back sacred lands might sound like a great idea, and might soothe their souls (and our bleeding hearts)...but in a practical sense, it does absolutely nothing for anybody, and doesn't solve any existing problems.